On 15 to 17 November the hills of Sai Kung will be alive with the sound of running and tramping feet. Oxfam Trailwalker will be on again with nearly 2000 stout souls taking part. The event is about 100 km, four marathons in a row, and only the fittest should attempt it.
Beginning at Pak Tam Chung barrier to the country park, the trail goes first around the High Island Reservoir then comes back over the hills to Sai Kung crossing Sai Sha Rd — the police control the traffic as the runners go through –then it climbs up the rocky steps to the ridges of Ma On Shan, where the paragliders fly, and heads off over peak after peak after peak of the MacLehose Trail ending in the Tuen Mun area. The heroes with the fastest time to complete the course are Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistics Regiment who did it in 9 hrs 50 mins. The local team with the best result — take a bow Tsang Fuk-cheng, Wong Ho-chung, Woody Wu Man-tsun and Joseph Yeung Chi-sing — finished in 11 hrs 38 mins.
Teams of four run or walk together, meeting support teams along the way who give them food, water, electrolyte drinks and if necessary first aid. On the 15th there will be a staggered start for the approximately 400 teams from 0730 to 1400 hrs.
One hundred thousand people have taken part in Oxfam Trailwalker since 1986, raising about $600 million. This has gone to Oxfam projects for poverty and emergency relief in about 90 Asian and African countries.
“Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
Till you find your dream”
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